Wearable child carriers allow wearers (e.g., parents, caretakers) to carry children comfortably while maintaining freedom of hand and arm movement. These carriers also allow for improved ergonomics for the wearer as the carrier may reduce the tendency of the parent to shift the spine to help support the child on the hip.
Some currently available child carriers wrap around a wearer's waist and provide a seating surface to seat the child on. These types of carriers are generally referred to as hip seats. The seating surface is usually semi-circular or semi-elliptical and in the form of a horizontally planar shelf. The shape of these seating surfaces allows a child's legs to hang downward. Additionally, children often settle on the edge of the seat, increasing the bending moment of the seat, resulting in discomfort for the wearer. Further increasing the discomfort of the wearer the front edge of such seating surfaces that are proximate to the wearer are short and flat, creating discomfort for the wearer when a child is placed on the seating surface.
What is desired, therefore, are hip seats that promote an ergonomic positioning of a child while also being comfortable for the wearer.